Nurses in England say they are prepared to go on strike until the summer as their dispute with the government looks set to continue.
The promises were made on picket lines across the country on a day when the NHS suffered the biggest strike in its history. Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have left 77 trusts and around 10,000 ambulance crews have joined for the first time.
The RCN, which currently has a strike mandate until May, said strikes would continue “as long as they last”, while the Unite union warned of a “constant cycle” of union action.
Nurses went on strike again on Tuesday, paramedics again on Friday and physiotherapists on Thursday, leaving hospitals in a week of turmoil. Tens of thousands of appointments and non-urgent surgeries are expected to be postponed.
Trade union leaders have asked the government to take action to prevent further strikes, but ministers in England have made it clear they will not compromise on wages for 2022/23, a key point of contention.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen told a vigil outside St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, that nurses’ strikes will continue until the government listens to their demands.
“Everyone sees the resilience of our medical staff, these wonderful people who are on the picket line today and are losing their pay for another day. They say the patients have had enough, they’ve had enough,” she said.
“They are not prepared for their NHS to be in crisis every day. They are trying to save their NHS from the brink and they will do so as long as the government listens to them.”
Strikes due to take place in Wales on Monday have been called off as the Welsh Government made an offer for better pay for NHS staff. Ms Cullen called on Rishi Sunak to restart talks and accused the Prime Minister of “punishing” nurses in England who were “left behind”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said failure to restart wage negotiations would lead to a “permanent cycle of industrial action, which clearly no one wants”. She said: “The salary issue needs to be resolved this year.”
Some 88,000 appointments and surgeries had already been delayed due to strikes before the action began this week. Trust leaders said they would not be able to function properly until the union campaign was over.
Saffron Cordery, deputy director of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: “We are planning for an incredibly disruptive week. “I hope this ends with the government coming to the table and negotiating a deal on pay for NHS staff this year.”
But during a visit to Kingston Hospital in south-west London, Health Secretary Steve Barclay appeared to rule out a new wage deal for the current financial year.
“We will talk to the unions about wages next year – starting in April,” he said. “I don’t think it’s right to go back to last year, to April. We need to contact the wage watchdog, who are now gathering evidence and working constructively with the unions.”
Mr Barclay said he wanted to “work constructively with unions” in collective bargaining next year. The Prime Minister’s spokesman also said the government wants to look forward, not backward, when it comes to negotiations with health unions.
Source: I News
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